HR Sources Confirm A 'Do-Not-Hire' List Exists — And Your Name Might Be On It Without Knowing
Blacklists are used by major companies and distributed via HR listing
Yan Krukau | Canva It’s no secret that I have been struggling to find employment. I’ve been trying to get a job for the past five years. Literally. Just any W-2 list would be great, ideally in writing and not sales.
It often felt like I was booted from a club that I didn’t even know I needed to be a part of. For a while, I wondered if I was blacklisted from my industry. But that would be crazy, right? Right? Well, if you’re in the same boat as I am, you're not crazy.
A major exposé revealed that there are now real-life “Do-Not-Hire” lists circulating — and one of the biggest ones comes from Meta.
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According to Business Insider, blacklists are used by major companies and distributed via HR listings, and it’s been confirmed. So, what does this mean for us job hunters? Honestly, it’s not good.
What does it take to get on the Do-Not-Hire list?
It’s arbitrary. On Meta, violating workplace policies, ethical concerns, burning bridges, and stealing information can get you on these lists that Meta, formerly Facebook, has one of the biggest. Being too aggressive and spamming a single company can also lead to this happening.
However, managers also have the discretion to put you on a “Do-Not-Hire” list if they so choose. So, if you have a manager who’s staring daggers at you, that may have been what doomed your career.
A growing number of companies now have “Do Not Hire” lists of their own. There are also rumors of companies pooling these lists in order to ensure they get what they think is the “right hire.” Ugh.
How can you find out if you’re on an industry Do-Not-Hire blacklist?
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There’s no really easy way to find out. According to research on the topic, a lot of people find out they’re on block lists from third-party contractors who wanted to hire them, but the actual companies say nothing.
Every time I searched for signs of a blackball, the following things kept coming up as warning signs:
- Being qualified, interviewing with companies, only to have people ghost. When recruiters and interviewers regularly come in hot but suddenly cool off, something’s afoot. It often means they got a notice that you shouldn’t be hired.
- Recruiters never call you back, even though you’re qualified. This was my dead giveaway. I had all the qualifications and then some. I just ... never got callbacks.
- You’re constantly applying for jobs that you can do, but you don’t get the time of day. This is doubly true if the jobs in question have a specific company tied to them, such as Meta.
- Though you’re not sure why, you can’t pass reference checks or background checks. The background check thing can also be a result of a bankruptcy or criminal record, depending on the job you have.
- You’ve gotten informal negative reviews or were told you were quietly banned. This is often the most reliable way to get the 411 on what’s going on with your career.
In most cases, you’re not going to be able to get solid proof that something is wrong. That’s for an obvious reason: this could lead to lawsuits, especially if they can’t come up with a legitimate reason for blackballing you.
The implications of a Do-Not-Hire blacklist are far, far deeper than they appear on the surface.
Think about what happens when you have companies and people that can blackball you at the blink of an eye. Don’t see it yet? I’ll explain: we’re creating a society of the hirable and the unhirable.
Being able to get a job, even a minimum wage job, is necessary if you want to have some kind of financial stability. In most cases, you need to have that base income before you can create your own business.
This move kneecaps people’s ability to stand on their own two feet. It also creates a society where bucking what corporate overlords want will mean almost certain ruin — lifelong, without even so much as an explanation.
Companies are growing those "No-Hire" lists faster than you think. And that means that for some unfortunate people, a single black mark against them means they spend thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) in training for a job that is no longer attainable for them.
The fact that this Do-Not-Hire list is happening is terrifying because it added yet another level of uncertainty for job seekers in the market.
Corporations are sending a message, and it should worry everyone. The message behind this is very clear: “Be a good little grunt, or we’ll steal your future.” If you need money, you need to protect yourself.
I’m fairly certain that I’m on a blacklist, despite being one of the most hardworking people I know. It can happen to anyone, even those who do everything they can to do things the right way — and that is beyond messed up.
The protection you need to do is simple: you need to start a business. You can’t get fired from a business you created and own. Want more protection? Cool. Start looking into passive income.
Trust me. It’s the only way to stand up to the groups that are stealing decent financial futures from other people.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.
